Alejandro Landa became the latest man to win an International Racquetball Tour (IRT) event Sunday, when he defeated Daniel De La Rosa, 15-6, 7-15, 11-10, to win the 40th annual Lewis Drug Pro/Am in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. De La Rosa was the defending Lewis Drug champion, and was looking to win back to back IRT events, as he won the Los Angeles Open earlier this month. Instead, De La Rosa becomes the first player to lose a final by only one point since the IRT adopted the win by one rule at the start of 2018.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Landa of the win. “I can’t describe what I’m feeling right now. It was emotional. I cried a little bit. I think I’m going to cry more.”

“This is the best feeling ever,” he added. “This is why I train.”

The first two games were lop-sided, although after De La Rosa took a 6-0 lead in game two, Landa did tie it at 6-6. However, De La Rosa held Landa to only one point from there, outscoring him 9-1, to win game two, 15-7, and force a tie-breaker.

It looked like tie-breaker wouldn’t be close either, as De La Rosa took a 6-0 lead again. Landa had scored a point, making it 2-1, but after De La Rosa scored his fifth point, Landa hit the ball in anger and the ball hit De La Rosa, so Landa was assessed a technical, which meant losing a point making the score 5-0.

De La Rosa made it 6-0, and Landa called a timeout. Coming back from the timeout, Landa got a side out, and then scored three points to cut De La Rosa’s lead in half, 6-3. They traded side outs, then Landa made the score 6-5.